


Inquires of the Mind

by FireopalCHAOS



Category: Naruto
Genre: Amnesia, Character(s) with amnesia, Gen, Madara took over the story, Mages, Magic AU, Sumigakure Halloween Event 2017, Witches, it isn't mentioned but tobirama and madara are obito's parents, that part wasn't supposed to be that long
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 14:09:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12278139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireopalCHAOS/pseuds/FireopalCHAOS
Summary: Obito, Rin, and Kakashi are looking for the Ignus Mage. Suna turns out to be both extremely helpful and not at the same time.





	Inquires of the Mind

**Author's Note:**

> A prompt fill for Sumigakure's 2017 Halloween event. This is for prompt #3: Witches/Wizards.

“You are looking for the Ignus Mage?” the headman repeated. “Why come here? A mage of that esteem would hardly stop in Suna.”

Obito shifted, leg tensing, “We’ve been looking for the last year and the rumors actually seem to have some backing for the Ignus Mage having at least come this way.”

“If we could just look around that would be a huge help and we can leave as soon as possible if it causes any trouble,” Rin adds.

The headman opens his mouth to reply, but he is cut off by the door opening. Two guards are holding a third person between who is slumped over. The guard on the left coughs, “Sorry to interrupt, Raza-sama, just a drunk that was causing trouble at the Stone Harpy.”

Raza motions over to the hall behind him and the guards hurry down, metal clanging as a door opens and closes. He turns back to them, “I can have some of the guard ask around, there aren’t many travelers that pass through here. If you want, there has been a few odd occurrences happening around the north side. We haven’t been able to find anything, but maybe outside eyes can spot something.”

Rin bows, “Thank you, headman Raza. Kakashi and I shall look into it. Obito, you stay here.”

“I can help, Rin,” Obito says, arms crossing across his chest.

Rin gives him a look that says exactly how much she cares about that, “We haven’t been able to take a break longer than sleeping for a week. Your leg is cramping like hell right now so you will stay here and  _ rest _ .”

He wants to fight and say that he can last another day, but it does hurt and resting sounds like heaven right now. He sighs, “Fine. Is there a place that has any rooms for rent?”

“There used to be an inn on the north side, but,” Raza rubs his face, “whatever is going on over there destroyed it. There are spare seats you can use until they come back.” He gestures to the hall the guards had gone down.

Obito frowns, “How big is this place?”

“Not as big as you are thinking. I will see you later today,” Raza says. Rin and Kakashi bow and exit. Obito glances between the hall, Raza, and the door, uncertain if he can just go past. Raza glances at him, “You can go ahead and find a spot to sit. I don’t want to know what your friend will do if you don’t rest and I don’t really want to find out.”

Obito nods and heads down the hall. A cell lines the right side while the left opens to a large room with three rows of seating facing a raised chair. The guards are talking over a paper as he sits on one of the benches and digs out one of the books Tobirama gave him.

 

_ ‘For the record, I told you so.’ _

“Shut up,” he curls up, ignoring the prodding through his body. “And I knew before I did it.”

_ ‘Why do it then? It seems stupid.’ _

“You wouldn’t. I’m not fully sure why I wanted to. Where did I get tossed into?”

_ ‘A building.’ _ He snorts and feels fingers run through his hair. It is relaxing, for all he knows it is a phantom.  _ ‘I think the leader or something is there. I get the idea I shouldn’t be confused by this, but it is confusing.’ _

He sighs, uncurling, “I am confused as well. But that is what probably what happens.”

_ ‘Yeah...Try and get out. I don’t like this...syrup that fills the area.’ _

He cracks his neck, stretching over whatever he is on, “Okay.” It is twilight out as he opens his eyes. The room is small, three separate rows of seating in front of a raised chair on the opposite side from him and the continuous cell he is in. “Woken up in worse places,” he mutters, walking over to the bars. There is someone stretched out on one of the seats, book resting on their chest as their leg makes odd twitches. “Can’t be older than a kid.”

_ ‘Like either of us would know?’ _

“Point. Hey! Any idea when I can go?” The kid jumps, book falling to the ground as they shoot upright. There is something...buzzing just out of reach in his mind. He narrows his eyes, he doesn’t think he knew this kid, but that isn’t  _ knowing _ .

“I, uh, don’t know? I’m waiting for my friends to get back,” they say, looking to the left.

He glances over but can’t see anything. The buzzing grows in intensity when he looks back at the kid. He blinks as a rust colored cat crawls out of the sack, twisting lines curling around it and toward the kid. “Familiar bond,” he says. The kid’s eyes go wide and he shifts, wariness filling the lines of their body.

_ ‘Fu-YOU COULDN’T HAVE WAITED TO SAY THAT!?!’ _

He ignores the yelling and pounding in his skull as he focuses on the kid, “Don’t care what you are. Just want to get out of here.”

The kid shifts, leaning against the arm of the seat as the cat jumps into their lap. Both of them stare at him and he wants to  _ slam _ his  **head** into a  **_wall_ ** .

He doesn’t. He watches the sky outside the window just beyond the kid’s shoulder, “How old are you? You seem young.”

“I turned 20 three months ago. Rin is the same age and Kakashi is 17,” the child says. He shouldn’t know the kid, then; maybe he knew a parent? The cat starts purring as they continue, “What about you? You don’t seem very old.”

He glances at the kid’s face-spikes driving into his skull-before shifting attention back to the window, “My age is unimportant.” Was the sky turning bloody?

“I answered you,” the kid whines, “why don’t you answer me?”

He opens his mouth to respond, to give the answer he has given so many times, and the ground rolls under his feet. The kid almost falls off the seat, but he is staring out the window, at the  _ taint _ that threads through the air. They should have known that this would happen eventually, that  _ they _ would be one step ahead at some point.

Holy spreads, leaving a loving taste on his tongue. A howl from a wolf breaks the stunned silence and the kid bolts to upright, hands catching on the seat in front of them as their leg spasms. Heavy footsteps come down the hall and a older one looks over the kid.

“That was Kakashi,” the kid says, eyes focused on something outside. “Something’s attacking them.”

He knows what it is, knows what it can do. “Let me out.”

Both of them look at him, the older one speaking, “I can’t just let you out. You came in here drunk.”

So that’s the word, he’ll have to remember that. “Yeah, and these are going to kill everyone if nothing stops them.”

“We can,” the kid snaps, and that is a really interesting twist that comes from that. Must be a sore spot.

“No, you can’t,” he says, leaning against the bars. “They look like golems, behave like golems, attack like golems, but they  _ are not golems. _ They will heal from any damage done to them if you don’t completely destroy them. They will not stop until their goal is reached. They can fucking combine with each other to increase all of their abilities. You have never seen something like these and you never will again because you are dead.”

The two are pale, fear making them shift and eyes flick around the area. The cat hisses and the kid takes a shaking breath, “If, if they are such...things, how do you know?”

He smiles, teeth pressing against his lips, “They’re trying to kill and or capture me. Now, are you going to  _ let me out _ or are they going to get more for their number?”

The older one hesitates for a moment and he wants to growl. He is being polite by asking them to let him out, but if it comes to it, he can handle the jagged teeth through skin to break open the wall. He blinks as the older one raises a hand to something he can’t see and pulls down a...thing that jangles and inserts one of the jangly things into the small block attached to the bars.

Dammit. He really needs to get those words.

“If you can stop them at all, even enough for us to get our people out of here,” they say, “it would be appreciated and I will see about talking with Chiyo for the tavern.”

He is...not sure what that means, but he can go out without jagged teeth in his flash so that is a plus. His neck cracks as he twists it, amusement lacing trough as the two flinch back at the black mark over his eye, “I was gonna just break the wall if you didn’t let me out. I don’t like others getting caught up in my shit. Which way is it?”

The kid grits their teeth, letting go of the seat and deliberately stepping in front of him, “You said it was the north end, right?”

“Yes. I will start everyone on evacuation procedures if they haven’t already,” the older says. They must be in a position of power here. “Stay alive, Konoha.”

_ ‘You better be heading here or I am going to  _ bite  _  you. These cubs aren’t suited to fight these and they smell of peace.’ _

Warmth tangles at his fingertips. Even if they were already going to be destroyed to the point of retreat  _ at least _ , he will take far more joy out of it now.

The older one splits off as soon as they leave the building. The cat is pressed against the kid’s side, twisting helping the leg move in a way that has to be painful with how it was twitching earlier. The buildings start deteriorating as people run the other way. There aren’t many, but with how the building are looking, that is expected.

“Rin!” the kid yells as they come to where the fighting is taking place. The one wearing armor turns to them, the holy barrier that was keeping the mass of white back flattering. The wolf growls, odd patches of white mating in the silver.

Okay, they are doing better than he thought they would. Armor is definitely powerful if they can hold a barrier with all of  _ them _ fighting against it.

Wait.

He shoves the kid to the side, hand slamming down as the ground heaves and white streams up. A yowl as half of the mass is charred and ignited and a brown shape tackles part of the other half. He doesn’t pause, fire forming in an open palm and shoved into the nearest mass. It doesn’t scream even as it burns from the inside out and he turns to the next.

Twisting in the air quickly by holy and a group doesn’t get the chance to dodge the explosion. He takes advantage and lets untamed fire consume all of them. It doesn’t last long or reach beyond the group that was hit, but they won’t be getting back up.

He glances back as he hits one with a chain of fire, lighting all of the ones nearby. The kids are holding their own, armor carving through the white taint as the kid slams groups of them together and the wolf is tearing apart any that attempt to get past.

Threads through the air and the white in front of him starts combining, the chunks that were cut off inching towards it. He growls.

Symbols and circles dash in front of him, settling on one that will get rid of everything. A loud yowl, drawing the white taint to them. He smirks as they close around them and lets the deep warm release.

Blinking, he stares at the smouldering remains. The kids are collapsed against the wolf and he makes his way over to them.

_ ‘What? We need to go before more show up. Or the black taint.’ _

“Shut up. It can wait a minute,” he snaps, crouching next to the kid. He lifts the right pant leg and stares at the heavily scarred skin that is twitching in rhythmic motions. More circles run through his mind. He frowns, he doesn’t know what is wrong and can’t make a guess on what he sees.

_ ‘What are you doing?’ _

A brown head butts against his arm, “I can help the kid, so I will.”

_ ‘If you do-’ _

“I know, but...I think I knew their parents. Even if I never remember, I owe it to  _ their _ memory of me to help.” He chooses a simple one that should work for pain at least and touches skin. A pattern spills onto white and he flinches as claws rip open his chest.

_ ‘Idiot. You’re lucky you’re so light.’ _

He doesn’t say anything, leaning across the large back. The feline body sways as they move out of the village; he feels a touch guilty that he doesn’t stay, but there is no knowing if more white taint or the black taint will show up before he has an opportunity to leave again. “So, a familiar bond.”

_ Hmph ‘Explains more than it doesn’t. Like why you only use runes.’ _

“Not what I was getting at, but yeah. Familiar bonds only happen with witches.” He stares at the sky, small lights dotting it, and wonders if anything will come from the depths he can’t reach into.

_ ‘Could be worse. You could have been a mage. Those are as common as dirt.’ _

He hums, “Witches make names for themselves. We just have to find one that vanished twenty years ago.”

A rumbling purr and the fight is catching up. He closes his eyes and tries to dream.

 

Minato runs a hand through his hair, “The only reason you would be calling is if something important happened.”

Tobirama has stopped writing and is staring over at him. The image in the ball shifts, all three of his students faces showing. “Well, we found the Ignus Mage,” Rin says. She looks tired and slightly singed and he wants to toss her at Kushina for an hour or two. Obito looks better overall, but still singed. Kakashi is the only one who seemingly escaped unscathed.

“The mage part is debatable,” Kakashi says, deep in thought. “Rin and Obito didn’t notice it, but it was an unguided release of mage, there was a full runic or ritual circle. It was burned away by whatever type of fire was called.”

“Destroying a circle takes a lot of power,” Tobirama says, “they aren’t weak even if they aren’t a mage like we thought. What else happened?”

“They, uh, are being hunted,” Obito answers, “by something that can make things like golems but aren’t. And they  _ knew _ what the things were.”

“You didn’t say that earlier,” Rin says, poking him in the side.

Obito gives her a deadpan look, “At that point I was trying to leave as fast as possible, I wasn’t really focused on what they were saying.”

He pinches his nose, “When did you have this discussion?”

“After talking to the headman, it was agreed that I would rest while they went to look at the north side of town which had been experiencing odd things and attacks,” Obito says. Kakashi and Rin give him looks that says the ‘agreeing’ part likely didn’t go without an argument. “Since the inn had been destroyed in one of the attacks, I stayed in the building in what was probably the trial room. The Ignus Mage had been...brought in for causing a disturbance in the local tavern and was in the cell. For a few hours, nothing really happened, then around twilight, they woke up and started a conversation.”

Obito shifts, different emotions flying across his face to fast to read, “I’m not sure, but they kind of sounded...off in how they talked. Like they weren’t sure of things that should have been obvious to a witch. Chanda came out of my bag and they recognised a familiar bond but they way they said it sounded like they had only just remembered it.

“Ah, um, off track. When the attack started, they demanded to be let out. Headman Rasa didn’t want to at first and I said that we could handle whatever it was.” Obito bites his lip, glancing around wherever they have settled for the time being. “They said that they looked, behave, and attack like golems, but they weren’t golems.” Tobirama has crossed the room to stand next to him, watching and listening to Obito. “They said they would heal if not completely destroyed, not stop until their goal is reached, and, uh, ‘fucking combine with each other to increase all of their abilities’.”

Kakashi nods and adds, “Before the circle went off, it did look like the things were combining. That might have been what caused the reaction of making and overloading the circle.”

Sharp claws tap against his desk as Tobirama hums, “They seem to have known a lot about these things, why?”

Obito laughs, the sound a little hysterical, “Apparently, they are trying to capture and or kill them.”

“Return as soon as possible,” Tobirama says and he wants to fight the undermining of his authority, but he agrees with this. “Finding the Ignus-mage or witch? We’re going to have to figure this out-can wait. We didn’t know they were being hunted, and now that we do, we’ll have to figure out how to approach this.”

The three nod before the image disappears. Tobirama lets out a slow breath, claws dragging across the desk, “I am heading home. I will see you tomorrow.”

He doesn’t say anything as the other leaves, sighing once the door is closed. He stares at the orb, “I really wish Madara was still here.”

“Wishing for something that can’t be is pointless,” Orochimaru states from the table next to the fire.

“Possibly.”

Gold eyes dig into him, “It has been twenty years. If Madara isn’t dead, then why hasn’t he come back?”

Minato sighs, leaning back in his chair and looking out the window. Sun-bright and fire-warm string pulls in front of his face. “I don’t know.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hoped you enjoyed! *walks off to work on different prompt*


End file.
